Laqshya Media wins ad rights to bus shelters in Chennai

The media company has won rights to 99 shelters; it has also strengthened its corporate team

Out of home (OOH) media firm Laqshya Media has won the rights to operate and market 99 bus queue shelters in Chennai for 10 years. The tender for the business was floated by Chennai Corporation and attracted bidders such as Vantage Advertising, Rajdeep Publicity, Prakash Arts and Big Street.

The majority of the bus shelters are in up-market residential and commercial areas. These bus shelters will be prepared as per design provided by Chennai Corporation.

Alok Jalan, managing director, Laqshya Media, says, "We have seen encouraging response to our street furniture projects; also, with the market gaining momentum, we are confident that this deal will help us strengthen our position in Chennai's OOH market."

Interestingly, at the Outdoor Advertising Convention 2010, D Muralidharan, managing director, Metro Multimedia shared that after the ban on billboards in Chennai, the total value of outdoor has gone down from Rs 15 crore per month to about Rs 8 crore per month, with 50 per cent of outdoor spends being allocated to bus shelters.

Laqshya has also recently strengthened its corporate team by appointing Ravikanth Gauravaram as assistant vice-president, business development; and Amit Nagrath as AVP, client servicing.

Gauravaram comes with an experience of more than a decade in outdoor media. Earlier, he was head, sales, North India, Navia Asia Delhi. Nagrath has worked in various industries including media, retail and oil and gas. Prior to joining Laqshya, he was based in Muscat, handling luxury brands.

The company has also promoted Shashi Sinha, who was earlier heading the airport media business for the company, to the position of national asset sales head. It has also promoted Shashank Karkhanis as head of sales, West.

Other appointments in various departments include Jayanthy Menon (media research) and Madhuri Bogawat (marketing and corporate communications).

Indrajit Sen, chief executive officer, Laqshya Media Group, says, "We believe Laqshya is poised for a very exciting phase of growth in the outdoor space and are delighted to welcome this experienced and talented set of professionals. They will significantly augment our existing team and add to the capabilities to provide total OOH solutions for our clients."

He adds, "Strengthening our team is a reiteration of our commitment to growth plans to take the Laqshya Media Group to the next level of path breaking outdoor solutions."